


i’ll be the vision of your happiness

by keatons



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 22:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5515973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keatons/pseuds/keatons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Your hair is burnt.”</p>
<p>“It is.”</p>
<p>“Would you like me to cut it for you?” she asks suddenly, “I mean, not to brag but I was responsible for Barry’s hair even looking halfway decent for the longest time.”</p>
<p>----</p>
<p>Or, how Jay Garrick manages to finally get his hair cut on this strange new Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i’ll be the vision of your happiness

Jay does not dream.

When he sleeps, it is fitful and more often than not, he has terrifying nightmares of Zoom. Zoom towering over him, hideously clawed fingers always poised and ready to plunge into Jay’s chest. 

Jay always wakes ups, drenched in sweat with his heart beating wildly.

He feels…

Helpless.

He tries to ignore that particular feeling, focusing instead on surviving on Earth One. In the months between his arrival on this strange new Earth and his involvement with S.T.A.R. Labs, he has managed to scrape by but scraping by only so much luxury but an awful lot of time to think and brood.

And he did.

He does.

His mind circles and circles and circles around his Earth, around the friends left behind, around his hatred of Harrison Wells. Most of all, it is Zoom and the devastating loss of the Speed Force that preoccupy him. 

Since arriving to this Earth, Jay has tried time and time again to recover his speed but it is always fruitless.

Pointless, even.

Yet tonight, he is alone in a workroom of S.T.A.R. Labs, about to zap his speed back with a contraption ostensibly designed by Cisco. Jay is quite sure it won’t work but as a scientist, he’s not quite sure enough to at least try.

He does.

Needless to say, it doesn’t work and Jay is left with cramped calves and somehow, singed hair.

He curses in frustration and stands up, shoving the machine away from him.

It slams against the wall, the fragile beams of it shattering to the ground.

Jay tiredly runs his hands over his face and wonders why he keeps trying, when all he gets is nothing.

Suddenly, he hears a soft voice call his name.

Turning around, he sees Iris West peeking around the doorframe. 

He awkwardly clears his throat and brushes his fingers through his hair, a halfhearted attempt to make it look less, well, burnt.

“Are you alright?” she says hesitantly.

Jay is not quite sure how to answer but honesty, he decides, is the best option. 

“No.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

They stand there and Jay struggles to articulate all the reasons why he is distinctly not all right. It should be simple because he likes Iris and her warm, open manner, even though he does not know her very well.

Iris cautiously steps into the workroom, tiptoeing around the broken remnants of the machine.

“I thought I heard someone yell a few moments ago,” she offers.

So much for assuming he was alone in the lab tonight, he thinks.

“That was me,” he says.

She looks at him for a long while; he shifts his weight from one foot to another.

“Your hair is burnt.”

“It is.”

“Would you like me to cut it for you?” she asks suddenly, “I mean, not to brag but I was responsible for Barry’s hair even looking halfway decent for the longest time.”

Jay is surprised but he feels a wave of gratitude, since his hair had been getting rather unruly. Brooding ex-Speedsters have little time to cut their hair, he dryly thinks to himself.

“That would actually be really great,” he responds.

Iris smiles brightly.

“Good, I was worried you were going to walk around with half-burnt hair! Ombré is very last season,” she says playfully.

“Where…where would this hair-cutting happen?” Jay asks.

“There’s a little suite with a bathroom here, all kitted out with toiletries. Barry uses it sometimes. The life of a crazy fast crime-fighter leaves little time to bathe and brush at home. This way,” she jokes as she gestures towards the hallway.

Jay makes a good-natured noise of amusement as he follows her out the door.

The two of them walk quietly down the hall until they reach the room. They step inside and Jay looks around; it is quite small but damn, if that bed in the corner did not look comfortable.

Iris sets down her purse and coat on it, and then moves towards the bathroom.

“Bathroom’s right over here! Your hair should probably be washed first.”

“Ah, right,” he responds as he follows her into the bathroom.

He sits awkwardly on the ledge of the bathtub, as Iris busily gathers up the necessary hair care tools, humming aimlessly.

She looks at him again with that inquisitive, thoughtful look.

He’s not quite sure how all of this is going to unfold but Iris taps her upper lip thoughtfully, before disappearing back into the main room. 

She reappears with a large cup in hand. Jay eyes it curiously.

“Barry drinks a lot of water. Must be all that running,” she says wryly.

Jay cracks a small smile, something he has not done for months.

“Why don’t you sit down and lean against the edge of the tub, so your head will be closer to the faucet?” she doesn’t ask, so much as she gently commands him to so.

He follows Iris’s recommendation and she kneels next to him, draping a towel over his shoulders. He instinctively closes his eyes as Iris turns on the faucet, filling the large cup up to the brim with water. The rush of water suddenly sounds very much like the portal opening up above him, right when the claws of Zoom were poised and ready to---

Jay gasps, jerking upright. 

He looks at Iris, a startled expression on her face, then down at his hands.

They’re shaking.

They sit there for a long few moments, not saying anything. Iris fidgets with the cup in her hands.

“Jay…” she hesitantly begins.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t---your hands are shaking,” she says, setting the cup down next to her.

Jay lets out a sharp, bitter laugh. It rings hollow in his ears.

“I haven’t been able to sleep since I got here.”

Iris nods.

“I can’t. All I dream about is Zoom, him taking my speed. All I can think about is him finding me here. I want to help Barry but I can’t even help myself,” He trails off, “I feel…worthless.”

He cradles his head in his hands, a feeling of bone-crushing exhaustion sweeping his body.

Iris reaches out, touching his shoulder and he lifts his head to look at her.

“You are helping Barry. You’re helping all of us. Just because you don’t have your speed doesn’t mean you’re worthless,” she says seriously, her dark brown eyes meeting his own, “The portals opening hurt everybody; we all need each other.”

He wants to ask her what she means by this, but she is already lightly pushing him back against the tub. 

“Just try to relax,” she says with incredible gentleness, brushing his hair away from his forehead. Taking a deep breath, he closes his eyes and soon, the warm water pours from the cup onto his scalp. 

It has been so long since somebody has touched him, he thinks hazily, as her slender fingers work the shampoo into his hair.

She is quite close to him; so close in fact, that he can hear the soft tinkling of her necklace as it shifts against her neck.

The faucet is running again as Iris fills up the cup again, but this time, he does not flinch. He breathes in, savoring the delicate floral scent of her perfume, as she rinses his hair.

After everything is rinsed out, she towel dries his hair. 

“You should, um, probably sit on the toilet,” she says, breaking the quiet.

Even though he had thought he’d moved far, far beyond toilet humor, he well and truly laughs at this and Iris joins him, covering her face with her hands as she giggles. 

“Ok, ok!” she says, trying to catch her breath between peals of laughter, “Sit on the toilet so I can trim your hair before it dries!”

Still laughing, he acquiesces and sits on top of the toilet. As Iris begins to work, he realizes he has not felt this at ease, this light in what feels like ages. 

Iris hums as she trims his hair, sending snippets of fair hair floating down around him. Jay dimly recognizes the pretty melody she’s humming but he can’t place it.

“I know that song.” 

“Which song?” she responds distractedly, pausing her work.

“The one you’re humming.” 

“Oh, of course!” she laughs lightheartedly, “It’s ‘Earth Angel,’ by the Penguins. My dad’s a huge fan of oldies music.” 

“That’s the one,” he smiles.

“So there must be old school doo-wop on your Earth then?” she asks, curiosity evident in her voice.

“That there is,” he answers, briefly glancing up at her.

“I guess some stuff is too good to be stuck in only one universe!” 

“Definitely!”

They go quiet again as she resumes her work. He notices she’s still humming it and for whatever reason, his heart stutters just the smallest bit.

Iris soon finishes cutting his hair and he makes a move to get up but she stops him.

“I’m not quite done yet,” she chastises. Stepping in front of him, she brushes his hair and styles it just so, biting her lower lip in concentration. Jay tries not to notice, focusing instead on the plain white wall behind her.

“There. All done.”

He turns and studies his reflection in the mirror. A significant improvement over the shaggy, half-burnt hairdo he might have sported without Iris’s intervention.

“Much better than burnt hair,” he deadpans.

“Agreed.”

He looks at her, suddenly feeling rather shy. 

“Thank you, Iris,” he says, extending his hand.

“You’re very welcome, Jay,” she smiles back at him, gently squeezing his hand.

For the first time, in a long time, Jay feels less alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!


End file.
